Bandage

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a plaster consisting of a flat element on which an adhesive area ( 2 ) is provided. From above, said adhesive area ( 2 ) surrounds a non-adhesive area or a pad ( 5 ) on the application side. According to the invention, the adhesive area has a first sticking area ( 3 ) which surrounds the non-adhesive area or the pad ( 5 ) and a second sticking area ( 4 ) which is located outside of the first sticking area ( 3 ) and surrounds said first sticking area ( 3 ). The force of adhesion of the first sticking area ( 3 ) (0.5-2 N/25 mm) is less than that of the second sticking area ( 4 ) (2-8 N/25 mm). This ensures that the inventive plaster sticks well but can also be removed gently. The invention also relates to a plaster strip and incision plasters.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a bandage with a flat element on whichan adhesive area is provided surrounding a non-adhesive area or a woundcover; and to a bandage strip with a strip-shaped flat element on whicha non-adhesive area or a wound covering, extending in a longitudinaldirection, is provided, and adhesive areas are provided on both sides ofthe non-adhesive area or of the wound cover, which also extend in thelongitudinal direction and delimit the non-adhesive area or the woundcover transversely to the longitudinal direction when the applicationside is viewed from above; as well as to an incision bandage with a flatelement on which an adhesive area is provided. Thus, this can be abandage, but also a bandage strip, a post-operative wound dressing, afixation bandage or an incision foil. As a rule, a continuous adhesivearea (adhesive surface) is provided in the last mentioned two cases.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A bandage with a wound cover and areas of different adhesiveness isknown from European Patent EP-A-0 353 972.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

With bandages there is a problem in that, on the one hand, they shouldadhere well to the skin surrounding the wound, but on the other handthey should adhere so lightly and should be removable in such a way thatthe previously damaged skin is gently treated. But they should also beremovable causing as little pain as possible.

In accordance with the present invention, a bandage is provided with anadhesive area that comprises a first adhesive zone surrounding anon-adhesive area or a wound cover, as well as a second adhesive zonearranged outside of the first adhesive zone and surrounding it, and thatat 0.5 to 2 N/25 mm, the adhesion of the first adhesive zone is lessthan that of the second adhesive zone of 2 to 8 N/25 mm; and to abandage which has an adhesive area with a first, inner adhesive zone,which extends in the longitudinal direction and delimits thenon-adhesive area of the wound cover, and a second outer adhesive zoneextending in the longitudinal direction, and that, at 0.5 to 2 N/25 mm,the adhesive of the first adhesive zone is less than that of the secondadhesive zone of 2 to 8 N/25 mm; and to a bandage which has an adhesivearea with a first adhesive zone and a second adhesive zone arrangedoutside of the first adhesive zone, and that, at 0.5 to 2 N/25 mm theadhesion of the first adhesive zone is less than that of the secondadhesive zone of 2 to 8 N/25 mm.

Advantageous further features lie in that the support for the adhesivezones comprise flat woven fabric, such as, for example, a cloth or aknit material; in that the support for the adhesive zones comprises anonwoven material, nonwoven material lamination or a foil; in that thebandage is an incision foil or a fixation bandage; in that the supportfor the adhesive zones is embodied to be multi-layered and/or as aheterogeneous structure; in that the transition from a strong adhesionto a lesser adhesion is steady; in that the transition takes place as acontinuous, preferably constant, gradient; in that the adhesive area asa whole comprises a first adhesive layer, and a second adhesive layerapplied to the first adhesive layer in the area of the first adhesivezone or the second adhesive zone; in that the first adhesive layer has astrong adhesion and the second adhesive layer has a lesser adhesion; andin that a flat piece as a finger lift, preferably a strip of the sameadhesion as that of the first adhesive zone, extends from the firstinner adhesive zone of a lesser strength as far as the edge of thebandage, preferably a corner.

Thus, the outer adhesive area, i.e. the second adhesive zone applied onthe edge, is provided with a greater adhesive strength. In a bandage,this adhesive zone is farther removed from the wound than the firstadhesive zone, which has a lesser adhesive strength. It is thereforepossible to apply a layer of greater adhesive strength in the secondadhesive zone, which is sufficient for the desired good and lastingadhesion of the bandage on the skin surrounding a wound of the patient.The inner first adhesive zone can then be designed to be comparativelyless adhesive. It basically only needs to assure the steady position ofthe bandage, and therefore the surroundings of the wound cover, forexample. It is possible to assure in this way that, when being pulledoff, the previously damaged skin is not stressed any more thannecessary, i.e. much less than up to now, in spite of a relatively largeadhesive zone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Three exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described inconjunction with the three drawing figures.

FIG. 1 is a plan view in perspective of a bandage according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view in perspective of a bandage according to a furtherembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view in perspective of a bandage according to a stillfurther embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a bandage 1 having an adhesive area 2 divided into a firstinner adhesive zone 3 and a second outer adhesive zone 4. The inneradhesive zone 3 directly surrounds a wound cover 5; the outer adhesivezone 4 directly surrounds the adhesive zone 3. The boundary isidentified by 7. The area facing the viewer of the enclosed drawing isthen customarily covered by a protective foil (not represented), whichis pulled off before the bandage is applied.

The adhesive strength of the inner adhesive zone 3 is relatively weakand lies in the range between 0.5 to 2 N/25 mm. This means that a forceof this size is required for removing a strip of a width of 25 mm (seethe description of the testing method hereinafter). The adhesivestrength of the outer second adhesive zone 4 is greater and lies in therange between 2 to 8 N/25 mm.

A support 6, on which the two adhesive zones 3, 4 and the wound coverare placed, can consist of a flat woven fabric, such as a cloth or aknit material, for example, or of a nonwoven material or a foil, whichare coated, preferably continuously, with an adhesive in the usualfashion. Single layer or multi-layer, but also heterogeneous structurescan be used here.

The present invention is not only used for bandages of the typerepresented in the drawings, but also for bandage strips, post-operativewound dressings and fixation bandages for needles, cannulae ordressings. When using the fixation bandage for a cannula a furtheradvantage arises, in that the central area which is taken up by thewound cover 5 in the exemplary embodiment represented in FIG. 1, is leftfree of adhesive, so that there is no danger that the bandage willadhere too strongly to the cannula or the like which it is intended tofix in place, so that the cannula would be inadvertently pulled out whenthe bandage is removed or, vice versa, when the cannula is removed, thatthe bandage is torn off in an uncontrolled manner.

Bandages containing active ingredients (for example antirheumaticbandages) are also considered, wherein the outer adhesive zone providesthe required adhesive strength and the inner adhesive zone need onlyadhere sufficiently for providing the skin contact required for thedesired effect. These are often bandages with a quite large surfacearea, whose removal as a result of skin irritations, or also only as aresult of body hair, can be very painful. These disadvantages areconsiderably reduced by means of the present invention.

So-called incision foils are also considered as an area of use. Theseare foils provided with an application aid, which are stuck on the skinprior to performing a surgical intervention in order to prevent anincision to spread open during an operation.

These layers constituting the two adhesive zones 3 and 4 can be appliedin a known manner, for example by an appropriately clocked spray orslotted head application, or by means of screen print or rotogravureprinting techniques. In connection with processing technology it canalso be advantageous to first provide the entire support 6 with astrongly adhesive layer, and then to apply a second coating of a weaklyadhering layer to the surface constituting the first adhesive zone 3,which is delimited by the line 7, so that the stronger adhesive layeronly becomes effective in the outer adhesive zone, while it is coveredby the weaker adhesive layer in the inner adhesive zone.

In regard to the adhesive strength, the transitions between the twoadhesive zones can be designed to be continuous, i.e. without steps. Ifthere is a steady transition, in particular with constant gradients,from the strongest to the least adhesion, is provided from the outeredge as far as the wound cover 5, this is also considered to fall underthe provisions of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a bandage strip which differs from the bandage in FIG. 1 inthat the adhesive area 2 does not completely surround the non-adhesivearea, constituted by the wound cover 5, but only transversely withrespect to the longitudinal direction of the bandage strip.

In the exemplary embodiment in accordance with FIG. 3, the outeradhesive zone 4, which has the stronger adhesion, has a small gap in theshape of a strip 8 at the corner 7. This gap is coated with the adhesiveof the adhesive zone 3 (reduced adhesion). The result is a strip 8 ofthe adhesive zone 3 as far as the edge of the bandage, or respectivelyits corner 10. The corner piece 9 being created in this way isespecially suited as a finger lift for grasping when pulling off thebandage.

The repeatedly mentioned adhesive strength is measured in the followingway: the force required for pulling an adhesive strip, for example abandage, off a level surface at an angle of 90° at a constant speed ismeasured. For this purpose a test strip is first pre-dried for fourhours at 105° C. and thereafter is stored for 20 hours in a standardenvironment (room temperature 23° C. and 50% humidity). Immediatelyprior to the test, the test material is pulled off the roll at a speedof approximately 30 cm/s. Then a strip of a length of 400 mm and of thepredetermined width (for example 25 mm) is cut. With test strips havinga cover paper on the back, first the cut is made, then the cover paperis removed. The sample is applied to the center of this plate with thecoated side, namely parallel with the longitudinal edge of the plate.Prior to this the plate is cleaned by means of a cotton swab soaked inbenzene or butyl alcohol. Then toluene is heated to boiling in asuitable container and the plate is suspended above the container insuch a way that it does not come into direct contact with the liquid.Once the steam has reached the upper edge of the plate, this state iscontinued for five minutes. The plate is then removed and allowed tocool for approximately 30 minutes in the standard environment (seeabove). After the sample has been applied to the plate, it is gentlysmoothed by a finger for removing trapped air. Thereafter the sample isrolled by means of a tape applicator at a sample width of 20 N/cm. Ini.e., the tape applicator, which comprises a roller, is pressed onto thesample strip with a force of 20 Newtons per cm of width of the strip thecourse of this the plate should be touched as little as possible inorder to avoid warming it. For the measurement, the end of the teststrip is exposed and flipped back and pulled off approximately 25 mm infront of the end of the steel plate. The plate is placed between thesupport surface and rollers of a testing arrangement (tensile testingmachine in accordance with DIN 51221, class 1), so that it can be easilypushed. The sample end is placed between the two rollers and clamped inthe upper clamp of the tensile testing machine. The draw-off angle is90° . The draw-off speed is set to 300 mm per minute. After the measuredvalue indicator has been reset to zero, the measurement is performed.For determining the adhesive strength, the progression of the force isrecorded by a recorder or PC. The mean adhesive strength is determinedfrom the force peaks in the following manner. If the diagram has morethan twenty clearly recognizable force peaks, four vertical lines atdistances of {fraction (1/10)} of the diagram length are drawn in towardboth sides from the center of each diagram length extending from thefirst force peak to the pull-off. The nine peak values which are closestto these lines are used for determining the adhesive strength. Peakvalues which project extremely out of the path of the curve are notconsidered. The result is determined as the average value of at leastthree tests in N/25 mm, rounded off to one place after the period, andis displayed. The adhesive force is calculated as follows:$F = {\left( {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}F_{i}} \right)/n}$

wherein F_(i) are the force peaks F₁, F₂, . . . F_(n), and n is thenumber of force peaks considered.

What is claimed is:
 1. A bandage, comprising: a flat element; anon-adhesive area mounted on said flat element; an adhesive areasurrounding said non-adhesive area, said adhesive area mounted on saidflat element, wherein said adhesive area includes a first adhesive zoneand a second adhesive zone, situated outside and surrounding said firstadhesive zone, and wherein at 0.5 to 2 N/25 mm, the adhesion of saidfirst adhesive zone is less than the adhesion of said second adhesivezone at 2 to 8 N/25 mm.
 2. The bandage as defined in claim 1, whereinsaid flat element comprises a flat woven fabric, such as one of: a clothand a knit material.
 3. The bandage as defined in claim 1, wherein saidflat element comprises one of: a nonwoven material, a nonwoven materiallamination and a foil.
 4. The bandage as defined in claim 1, wherein thebandage comprises one of an incision foil and a fixation bandage.
 5. Thebandage as defined in claim 1, wherein said flat element is one ofmulti-layered, a heterogeneous structure, and multi-layered and aheterogeneous structure.
 6. The bandage as defined in claim 1, whereinthe transition from a strong adhesion to a lesser adhesion is steady. 7.The bandage as defined in claim 6, wherein the transition takes place asa continuous gradient.
 8. The bandage as defined in claim 6, wherein thetransition takes place as a continuous, constant gradient.
 9. Thebandage as defined in claim 1, wherein said adhesive area comprises afirst adhesive layer and a second adhesive layer applied to the firstadhesive layer in one of: the first adhesive zone and the secondadhesive zone.
 10. The bandage as defined in claim 9, wherein said firstadhesive layer is in said second adhesive zone with strong adhesion, andsaid second adhesive layer is in said first adhesive zone with a lesseradhesion.
 11. The bandage as defined in claim 1, further comprising: afinger lift of the same adhesion as that of the first adhesive zone,said finger lift extending from said first inner adhesive zone of alesser strength and as far as the edge of the bandage.
 12. The bandageas defined in claim 11, wherein said finger lift comprises a strip. 13.A bandage strip, comprising: a strip-shaped flat element; a non-adhesivearea extending in a longitudinal direction on said strip-shaped flatelement; and an adhesive layer situated on said strip-shaped flatelement on either side of said non-adhesive area, extending in saidlongitudinal direction, said adhesive layers delimit said non-adhesivelayer transversely to the longitudinal direction, wherein said adhesiveareas comprise: a first inner adhesive zone which extends in thelongitudinal direction and delimits said non-adhesive area; and a secondouter adhesive zone extending in the longitudinal direction, and whereinat 0.5 to 2 N/25 mm the adhesion of said first adhesive zone is lessthan the adhesion of said second adhesive zone at 2 to 8 N/25 mm. 14.The bandage strip as defined in claim 13, wherein said flat elementcomprises a flat woven fabric, such as one of: a cloth and a knitmaterial.
 15. The bandage strip as defined in claim 13, wherein saidflat element comprises one of: a nonwoven material, a nonwoven materiallamination and a foil.
 16. The bandage strip as defined in claim 13,wherein the bandage comprises one of: an incision foil and a fixationbandage.
 17. The bandage strip as defined in claim 13, wherein said flatelement is one of: multi-layered, a heterogeneous structure, andmulti-layered and a heterogeneous structure.
 18. The bandage strip asdefined in claim 13, wherein the transition from a strong adhesion to alesser adhesion is steady.
 19. The bandage strip as defined in claim 18,wherein the transition takes place as a continuous gradient.
 20. Thebandage strip as defined in claim 18, wherein the transition takes placeas a continuous, constant gradient.
 21. The bandage strip as defined inclaim 13, wherein said adhesive area comprises a first adhesive layerand a second adhesive layer applied to the first adhesive layer in oneof the first adhesive zone and the second adhesive zone.
 22. The bandagestrip as defined in claim 21, wherein said first adhesive layer is insaid second adhesive zone with strong adhesion, and said second adhesivelayer is in said first adhesive zone with a lesser adhesion.
 23. Anincision bandage, comprising: a flat element; and an adhesive areamounted on said flat element, wherein said adhesive area includes afirst adhesive zone and a second adhesive zone, situated outside of saidfirst adhesive zone, and wherein at 0.5 to 2 N/25 mm, the adhesion ofsaid first adhesive zone is less than the adhesion of said secondadhesive zone at 2 to 8 N/25 mm.
 24. The incision bandage as defined inclaim 23, wherein said flat element comprises a flat woven fabric, suchas one of a cloth and a knit material.
 25. The incision bandage asdefined in claim 23, wherein said flat element comprises one of : anonwoven material, a nonwoven material lamination and a foil.
 26. Theincision bandage as defined in claim 23, wherein the bandage comprisesone of : an incision foil and a fixation bandage.
 27. The incisionbandage as defined in claim 23, wherein said flat element is one of :multi-layered, a heterogeneous structure, and multi-layered andheterogeneous structure.
 28. The incision bandage as defined in claim23, wherein the transition from a strong adhesion to a lesser adhesionis steady.
 29. The incision bandage as defined in claim 28, wherein thetransition takes place as a continuous gradient.
 30. The incisionbandage as defined in claim 28, wherein the transition takes place as acontinuous, constant gradient.
 31. The incision bandage as defined inclaim 23, wherein said adhesive area comprises a first adhesive layerand a second adhesive layer applied to the first adhesive layer in oneof the first adhesive zone and the second adhesive zone.
 32. Theincision bandage as defined in claim 23, wherein said first adhesivelayer is in said second adhesive zone with strong adhesion, and saidsecond adhesive layer is in said first adhesive zone with a lesseradhesion.
 33. The incision bandage as defined in claim 23, furthercomprising: a finger lift of the same adhesion as that of the firstadhesive zone, said finger lift extending from said first inner adhesivezone of a lesser strength and as far as the edge of the bandage.
 34. Theincision bandage as defined in claim 33, wherein said finger liftcomprises a strip.